Serena Williams features Trio of American women in Australian open quarterfinals

Of the remaining eight women in the Australian Open quarter, three are Americans – and at least one is sure to make the semifinals.

As well as 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams, who will face world level 2 Simona Halep at 3 a.m. EST on Tuesday – there will be an American quarterback with No. 22 Jen Brady and Billica’s daughter Jessica Pegula Buffalo. and Sabers

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owners Terry and Kim Pegula.

Brady, a semifinalist at last year’s U.S. Open, and Pegula are friends who have played once before, at last summer’s Open & Southern Open where Pegula won 7-6 (5), 6-4 .

“I’m excited [Pegula] making her first Grand Slam quarter-quarter final, ”said Brady. “I know the feelings she’s feeling. You feel like you are on cloud nine. She plays great tennis. We have played before. I think we both know each other so well and I’m really looking forward to it. There will be a lot of fun. I think everyone back home in America will be watching, for sure, and America is definitely in the semifinal. “

Pegula’s dream continued through the lottery followed by a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win over No. 5 seed Elina Svitolina, her first career award against a Top 10 player.

“I thought I did a very good service all the time,” said Pegula, the 26-year-old Buffalo at 661. “I think I got kind of a little skeptical in the second set. I played a good game to break it, then I didn’t serve. That was great.

“I’m just glad I reset at the start of the third one. I think that’s great. Of course you know you’re going to go three sets in the end. I thinking that the way I moved and turned it around was really, really important.

“I can’t be more confident, it’s still my best result and I play good tennis and today it was a hard win, so yeah, I feel good . “

After Pegula won, Brady took the court in Rod Laver Arena and won 6-1, 7-5 over No. 28 Donna Vekic’s seed in 1 hour, 34 minutes.

“It was a very difficult game. I had to stay focused in the second set,” said Brady, a 24th-place Harrisburg native, Pa. Who was the star of UCLA. “I was getting a little ahead of myself, but I was able to break and then attend my best game at the end. ”

This marks the third straight Grand Slam that at least two American women have reached the quarterfinals.

Sofia Kenin topped Danielle Collins in the quarter-finals of the French Open in October and eventually reached the final, losing to 19-year-olds Iga Świątek. Kenin, whose parents moved from Russia to raise their daughter in the U.S., won her first major at the Australian Open in 2020. Kenin was upset in the third round of this year’s Australian Open- by Olivia Gadecki from Australia.

At last year’s U.S. Open, Serena, Brady and Shelby Rogers reached the semifinals, with Serena and Brady both losing in the semifinals. Naomi Osaka, who plays under the Japanese flag but lives and trains in the US, won her third major crown and the second US Open crown in New York in honor of victims of African-American violence.

The success of American women is still different from their male counterparts.

An American did not win a major title from Andy Roddick at the 2003 US Open. Much of that has to do with the leadership of the “Big 3” of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic over that period. That trip has come together to win 57 majors and counting. Both Djokovic and Nadal are still alive to win the title in Australia.

Meanwhile, in addition to the 23 major titles of Serena and seven Venus Williams, two other American women have won Grand Slam titles in recent years, Kenin and Sloane Stephens (2017 US Open).

Now three American women have another chance to win a Slam.

Serena, 39, may have to beat the top three players in the world – No. 2 Halep, No. 3 Osaka and No. 1 Ash Barty – to tie Margaret Court at the top of the time list.

“I think it’s pretty deep again,” Williams said of the field. ” I think there have been a lot of players who could win the title from the start of the draw. I think there are as many players who come out and win Grand Slams as can keep winning.

“It’s good. It’s good to see. It’s good to see I’m in that mix too.”